Projo Sox Blog

Tim Wakefield's knuckleball looks like nothing most of the young Florida Marlins have ever seen, and they couldn't get a bead on the dancing pitch all night.

Chris Volstad's fastball, on the other hand, looked reassuringly familiar to Red Sox hitters, and they treated them as they do most low-90s, belt-high fastballs: whack them all over the park.

Wakefield allowed two runs over six innings, striking out four.

"He worked behind in the count a little bit, didn't throw a lot of first pitch strikes but they're a very aggressive team and he had a lot of movement on his knuckleball. It was good. Worked out very well for us," said manager Terry Francona.

Wakefield improved to 9-2 in interleague games, and has dominated the National League with a 3.06 ERA in his last 15 interleague starts.

"You still can't take it for granted," Wakefield said of facing a National League squad. Maybe you dont' face them so mcuh versus the Yankees, where Derek [Jeter]'s got over 100 at-bats against me. It's still a very potent lineup they have over there and you have to be on your A-game," he said.

Wakefield, 9-3, started off the game with six straight strikes to set down the first two Marlins batters, which set the tone for the rest of the game.

"I established for them that I was going to throw strikes and they were going to have to swing early," Wakefield said.

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said his young team had trouble adapting to the unfamiliar knuckleball.

"I don't know of anybody, unless they're somebody within the American League East, where they're facing Wakefield six or seven times, you don't really get accustomed to it. But you've got to tip your hat. He did a nice job," Gonzalez said.

Manny Delcarmen, Takashi Saito, and Daniel Bard finished off the game with barely a hiccup.

The Red Sox beat up on Florida's Volstad and his replacement, Burke Badenhop, in a six-run third inning that put Boston ahead to stay. That inning and throughout the day, the bottom of the lineup provided the spark, with Jacoby Ellsbury, Nick Green, and George Kottaras all had two hits. Ellsbury stole second twice and scored twice, while Green had two RBI and Kottaras one.

"It takes the pressure off of that top of the order," Green said. "That's our job, to try to get up there and contribute and that's what we're trying to do."

The resurgence of David Ortiz continued. Ortiz walked, hit one ball to the warning track, another into the bullpen for his fifth home run, and then delivered a bases-loaded single for two RBI.

"It's working, it's working. Trying to get my timing all set," Ortiz said. "I feel good."

Hanley Ramirez' Boston return wasn't much to speak of. The shortstop went 1-4 with a strikeout, and his one hit was a single where he was thrown out tried to reach second base. He also made an error on an easy ball at shortstop, and failed to glove another that slipped by second baseman Dan Uggla.

The win kept Boston atop the AL East, two ahead of the Yankees, who also won.

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